Help us raise £5,000 so we can open Zoe’s Wish charity shop (From Bournemouth Echo)

Help us raise £5,000 so we can open Zoe’s Wish charity shop

3:00pm Monday 11th March 2013 in News By Katie Clark

high hopes: Paul and Jo Dunn want to set up a Zoe’s Wish charity shop in memory of their daughter

A CHRISTCHURCH charity set-up in memory of a young woman is appealing for help with their next local venture.

Jo and Paul Dunn from Burton, set-up Zoe’s Wish after their daughter died of Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) in 2001, a condition where the blood forms small clots within the circulation.

Zoe was just 23 years old when she died.

The charity helps patients who depend on regular life-saving treatment at hospital or at a specialist treatment centre, including respite care, where possible.

And now, the couple are hoping to go one step further with their fundraising and open a charity shop in Christchurch to generate regular income for the charity.

Paul said: “We are looking for some help with this one as we don’t feel it would be appropriate to use donations we have received to date for this project.

“Our supporters have responded to the needs of our core aims and to specific projects such as the purchase of the medical monitor for the hospital in Oxford.

“With this in mind we would like to ask our supporters to help us raise £5,000 specifically to enable Zoe’s Wish to open a charity shop which will, we hope, provide a regular source of income for our projects.”

The £5,000 would go towards three months’ rental deposit, three months’ advance rent, the first three months’ heating and power, signage, shelving and a till.

The shop would be staffed by volunteers, some of whom have already offered their services and of course donations are needed to get going.

They could include clothes, bric-a-brac, books, DVDs, small electrical goods as the charity can PAT test in house, and household goods.

It hoped that after the initial three months, the shop will be self-sufficient.

Paul added: “In the longer term our aim is, as we have previously said, to raise £28,000 for a holiday home at Hoburne with which we can offer respite breaks to patients and their families or carers. “At times when there is not the need to offer a respite break, Hoburne have offered to let out the holiday home on behalf of Zoe’s Wish to generate further income to offset the annual costs.”

Go to zoeswish.co.uk for more information.